Sun & Wind Energy 4/201274

Photovoltaics solarexPo & cis

Solarexpo moves to MilanAfter the cuts in the solar feed-in tariffs in Germany and France, the Italian

market is becoming increasingly important for many participants. However,

at the beginning of the year, Italy followed the trend and put a freeze on

large-scale projects. Now, the focus is shifting towards small and medium-

sized PV plants with an output of up to 100 kW.

As a meeting point for solar professionals, the trade fair Solarexpo, which will take place in Verona in May, is one of the top events in the

calendar of many market participants. This won’t be any different this year. In view of the current market situation, the industry is looking for ways to develop new market segments and to establish the necessary contacts. While the realization of ground-mounted PV plants in Apulia, for example, used to be manage able once the capital had been lined up, the sales seg-ments will be shifting by the second half of 2012. With the subsidies for PV plants on agricultural land and the next round of tenders for large-scale projects cancelled, the boom of 2011, when the newly in-stalled capacities reached about 9 GW in Italy, seems to be over. Prior-year figures come from the European PV Industry Association (EPIA), and they are in ac-cordance with those published by the Italian solar in-dustry association “Gruppo Imprese Fotovoltaiche Italiane” (GIFI). Differences may occur, because EPIA and GIFI in contrast to the Italian regulatory authority GSE have counted all PV systems connected to the grid in 2011, even if these were already installed in 2010.

One of the first measures of Italy’s interim gov-ernment under Mario Monti was to change the direc-tion of the Italian solar incentive in January. And ex-perts believe that this is not the end of the rope. On

occasion of a visit to a factory of the inverter manufac-turer Power-One, Italy’s Environment Minister Corrado Clini had given some further indications on the future adjustments of the solar incentive in Italy: “We must stop using farmlands for PV purposes. Fields must be used to grow tomatoes.”

In view of the changes imposed by the Italian gov-ernment, Valerio Natalizia, President of GIFI, expects that the newly installed capacities will reach only 3 to 3.5 GW in the year 2012. “But a lot will depend on how the market reacts to a registry and the new in-centives”, the expert continues. Natalizia also acts as Italian Managing Director for the inverter manufactur-er SMA.

More strategical partnerships

A closer look at the new framework conditions shows that, in particular, market participants who are able to quickly adjust their strategies or have established partnerships and thereby access to the new market segments will have an advantage. TerniEnergia is a good example. The company plans to complete the strategic turn around by 2013 and then focus exclu-sively on rooftop PV plants. TerniEnergia also aims at strengthening its collaboration with the energy pro-viders and others active in energy efficient building. A similar path is followed by Enfinity Italy, which has

Last year, Solarexpo Verona was dramatically affected by the government’s declaration of new feed-in tariffs within the “Conto Energia”. Photo: Europressedienst

Sun & Wind Energy 4/2012 75

teamed up with Mabo Group. Mabo, a leader in in-dustrial building construction in Italy, will contribute its expertise in roof construction. The company will identify suitable areas for the development of the projects, conduct feasibility studies and perform all the necessary site acquisition tasks. Enfinity Italy will undertake the development of the PV plants, as well as the operation and maintenance services.

Ciao Verona

But the market is not the only thing changing. News has also come from the organizers of Solarexpo. Be-tween May 9th and 11th, the visitors will have to say goodbye to Verona. After 13 years, Italy’s leading trade fair for renewable energy will move to Milan where it is expected “to gain global visibility and ap-peal”. Solarexpo is the third largest renewable ener-gy event in the world. Its exhibitions and conferenc-es cover an area of 100,000 m2 and attract visitors coming from over 30 countries. According to a repre-sentative of the trade fair in Verona, the organizers again expect more than 1,200 exhibitors and 70,000 trade visitors this year. Compared to last year, when 1,400 companies came to Verona, the numbers are slightly lower. But even stability can be seen as a success in the current market environment. More participants will probably show up at the last minute. Many companies are welcoming the move to Milan Fair where PV-Tech, the other major Italian solar event, will take place in November, even though there remains a feeling of nostalgia. After all, Verona has played an important role in the history of the Italian PV sector. Besides the modern exhibition centre, Milan will also provide better accessibility and a wider range of hotel accommodation.

The 4th edition of the Italian PV Summit (7 to 8 May) will again be held in the days preceding Solarexpo. According to the organizers, the Summit provides a meeting point for the community of solar sector professionals, gathering alongside the CEOs of leading global and Italian companies, finance, top in-ternational analysts and institutional representatives. Among the main topics will be the economic back-drop, a roadmap to grid parity, a careful analysis of market trends and the many variables in play “in order to provide industry players with practical, real-world business intelligence”. Solarexpo reports that the 3rd edition of the Summit in the last year had featured 50 speakers, seen 10 working sessions and drawn 400 participants from 19 different countries.

Whether the situation will again become as dra-matic in Verona as in the last year remains to be seen. In 2011, the new feed-in tariffs of “Conto Energia” had been published around the time of Solarexpo, which led to a lot of debate among the market partic-ipants. Now, there are again signs that the solar in-centive could be changed. Especially, the price de-cline for solar modules has been followed by the Italian government with great attention.

Michael Forst

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solarexPo & cis

Companies and products at the fair

Alfasolar GmbH will present its new mono crystalline module “made in Germany” in Verona, which can be looked at in detail in hall 7, booth B 3.5. Axitec will showcase its new module Axiblack premium at its booth C 11.4 in exhibition hall 8. The trend towards black modules is also followed by Spain-based Eurener, a represented company, which will intro-duce its Black Panel MELPV module during Solarexpo. Renergies Italia will be located at booth B 2.2 in hall 11 where the company will introduce its new solar module with monocrystalline cells. Eosolare, which can be found at booth B 4.2 in hall 6, will present its monocrys-talline solar module EOS156M72FVT.

Valenia will exhibit its single-phase inverter Aurus with high efficiency trans-former at its booth C 3.2 in hall 7. Zigor Corporación will come to Italy with two inverter innovations: its single-phase Sunzet SP and the three-phase Sunzet XTR, which can both be seen in hall 6, booth D 5.9.

Mounting Systems will welcome the visitors at its booth M 4.1 in hall 7b with a mounting solution for trapezoidal rooftops. A mounting system for flat roofs and open space installation will be presented by Renusol at its booth D 9.7 in hall 7. Schletter will take Verona as an opportunity to introduce the Italian ver-sion of its AluLight solution in hall 8, booth D 9.2.

Connect will showcase its energy manager Clever at booth B 11.2 in hall 8. Enfinity will come to Verona with its E-Meter including Smart-Enfinity-App and its Gateway solution, which can be found at booth E 2.1 in hall 6. Smart mon-itoring products will also be presented by eSentinel Group at booth B 3.2 in hall

11. Solare Datensysteme, another repre-sented company, will introduce three in-novations in the area of monitoring sys-tems from the Solar-Log product line.

Enwi-etec launches two new prod-ucts: its new emergency shut off switch with UPS controller and the Off-Grid Box. The company can be found in hall 7, booth E 5.4. Solarfocus will present its wood pellets boiler Octoplus, which com-bines solar and pellet technology, at its booth B 7.4 in hall 2. Enlog Europe will exhibit its product Eckpack, an innova-tion in the area of packaging technology, at the booth C 5.3 in hall 6. GBE will have its cast resin transformers on display at its booth G 8.1, hall 7b.

In hall 2, booth E 8.2, Chinese- Australian inverter manufacturer Samil Power presents its product range includ-ing SolarRiver, SolarLake and SolarOcean grid-tie inverter series. The company with manufacturings in China comes to Verona with a bundle of new certificates for its products. Thus the SolarLake (Three Phase, 10/12/15/17 kW) series obtain 16 countries’ certifications for grid-tied inverters, among others, the series have passed German VDE4105 standard.

ESentinel, a provider of output- controlling systems for renewable ener-gy systems with focus on wind and PV, shows its new products in hall 11, booth B 3.2. Among others there are eSense, an energy controller suitable for small household PV systems (up to 6 kW), and eWatch, a system for application in medi-um and large scale solar power plants. In addition, eAlert allows for an entrusted monitoring to the operations center with technical support.

Michael Forst

During last year’s Verona Solarexpo tracker manufacturer Beghelli SpA presented a solar tree at their booth. Photo: Europressedienst

Many exhibitors use the Solarexpo 2012 to present their

new products to the Italian market. SUN & WIND ENERGY

presents a small selection.

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Sun & Wind Energy 4/2012 77

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I t was indicative that no politicians or government officials spoke during this year’s Conferenza dell’Industria Solare (CIS) at the end of February in

Rome. The economic and financial crisis affecting Italy

puts Mario Monti’s government under a constant and daily pressure.

The recent decisions to not open a register for large-scale PV systems in the second half of 2012, as

Stopping midstreamStopping midstreamSince the government has stopped support for solar power on agricultural land, the Italian market will focus on projects on roof areas and residential systems. Photo: Enfinity

This year, CIS conference in Rome has demonstrated that the Italian solar

market is at a turning point. As the market slumps after years of

tremendous growth, the Italian branch starts discussing ways to become

independent from feed-in-tariff games.

Sun & Wind Energy 4/201278

solarexPo & cis

well as the announcement that the new de-cree on liberalisation contains a retroactive measure halting all PV development on ag-ricultural land, have created a long shadow on the sector. According to Reinhold Buttgereit, EPIA Secretary General, European PV installations account for three quarters of the world market. In the near future, this ratio should decrease due to shrinking European markets and growth in the US PV market, as well as in other emerging mar-kets, e.g. in Asia.

But hopes on exports are not a solution for the Italian PV sector. Gianni Chianetta, Assosolare President, is convinced that, even though exports can play a key role for medium-large Italian solar companies, the national market should be consolidated. He interpreted the recent modifications of the 4th Conto Energia as the government’s at-tempt to promote small scale instead of large size PV installations.

The international professionals who convened at the CIS Rome believe that what is essential for a positive PV development is a clear and stable normative framework over the years in order to avoid launching gener-ous feed-in tariff schemes that shortly there-after can only face drastic cuts – with gov-ernments bound to regularly bring tariffs in line with price developments. This belief was shared by GSE official Francesco Trezza, who addressed to politicians, legislators, and industry representatives a wish to be deeply responsible when designing and adopting new support schemes, pointing out that “too generous benefits only pro-duce market distortions”.

Valerio Natalizia, GIFI president, pro-posed creating a round table, bringing to-gether the PV sector and the Italian govern-

ment as soon as possible. One of the prob-lems affecting the country’s solar market is the relatively large number of industry asso-ciations: at least four organizations claim to represent the PV sector. This fact obviously frightens the Italian government: in times of economic crisis, Monti wants to avoid never ending round table debates with a wide range of stakeholders, each of them pursu-ing specific interests. This aspect, according to Natalizia, makes the Italian solar market a fragile formation. From the government’s point of view, preventing substantial discus-sion has become the best strategy.

Many companies in the sector would like to put more pressure on the government in order to receive substantial tax reduc-tions when founding industrial businesses that produce Italian PV modules and cells. However, in the eyes of other conference participants, such a strategy could only fail. Firstly, as a matter of protectionism, it would very likely provoke counteractions by EU in-stitutions. Secondly, even if given the tax advantages, it would seem almost impossi-ble to compete with the Chinese manufac-turers’ prices. In this situation, it seems a far better strategy to concentrate efforts on all kinds of services around PV installations, and invest in niche products like modules and cells for historical roofs or other build-ing envelopes with specific characteristics.

“No one would seriously plan to pro-duce iPhones and tablets in Italy or general-ly in Europe. But this does not mean that the industry here is at a dead point,” said Natalizia at the close of his statement. Most of the PV professionals at the conference, when asked for an evaluation of the market perspectives, said that the focus in 2012 will turn to residential installations, with the

A central demand of the professionals convened at CIS Rome was a more stable support system for PV development in Italy. Photo: Daniele Colamonico/Solarpraxis

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Sun & Wind Energy 4/2012 79

market volume decreasing to less than half of the 2011 outcome. A credit crunch in 2012 would slow the mar-ket down even further, however.

The conference demonstrated that the Italian solar market is at a turning point. After tremendous growth in the last three years, last year saw the beginnings of a consolidation, with famous victims such as Solon Italy, that failed to restructure and reduce its overpro-duction. This year will probably see a substantial mar-ket remodelling. The PV market, as pointed out by many participants at the conference, must become in-dependent from feed-in tariff games. There still re-mains a high market potential, since grid parity has come within reach, at least in the south of Italy. Cristina Barbero

In January, two important measures were taken, introducing substantial changes into Conto Ener-gia.

1. GSE, the Italian regulatory authority for re-newable energies, announced that it will not open a new register for large-scale PV systems in the second half of 2012. The reason is that the large scale PV systems registered in 2011 al-ready exceeded the budgets dedicated to their support – € 300 million for 2011 and € 280 million for 2012. In fact, the annual cost for the incentives applied to registered large-size PV systems reached € 1 billion. As a result, over 2,000 projects enrolled in the register have no chance to be realised under the current support scheme, although matching the requirements. They have to wait until 2013, when a revised in-centive scheme will come into force.

2. The government announced plans to apply specific retroactive measures to art. 65 of the Decreto Romani concerning large scale PV plants in Italy. Huge solar farms already built or under construction and expected to become operation-al by March 28th, 2012, would have retroactively been excluded from remuneration by the feed-in tariff. This situation since early March 2012 is dif-ferent; it seems that a maxi amendment to the liberalization decree will cancel the retroactive measures, allowing large-scale PV plants to get their feed-in tariff, if they are grid-connected by the end of March (as set by the Decreto).

According to the amendment, PV installa-tions with a rated power above 1 MW on agricul-tural land will not benefit anymore from the in-centives, except for installations on military land. This is a specific benefit for the Defence Ministry and its “spin-off” company, Difesa Servizi SpA., the energy branch of the Defence Ministry, that is installing several large PV plants on military bar-racks, hangars and on state-owned land. Cristina Barbero

4th Conto Energia – latest update

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